DataSift CEO Shares 7 Consumer Privacy Principles to Stay on the Right Side of The “Creepy Line”

The massive explosion of Human Data, or human-generated Big Data — from texts and images to audio and video spinning around in social media, Facebook, Amazon, blogs, and data from the Internet of Things — offers potentially valuable intelligence. But there is a dark side to this 360-degree big-data view. This post offers seven founding principles of consumer privacy businesses should consider.

As data technologies advance, how can companies build trust into their analytics solutions to ensure they leverage consumer insights without creeping people out? Here are seven founding principles surrounding consumer privacy that organizations should consider as they analyze consumer-generated data.

1) Nothing is more important than consumer trust

Companies must handle personal data responsibly, be transparent about what the organization is doing with social data and enable user control.

2) Data ethics come before Big Data technology

Trust is the hallmark of social data analytics, and organizations need to keep the consumers in mind as they analyze their data. Unethical use of consumer data can quickly break that trust, undermine customer relationships—and potentially expose the company to significant brand damage.

3) Respect data providence and terms of use

Even if tech companies believe that the data is in the public domain, they still need to respect and adhere to the providers’ terms of service. Most social providers’ terms of service also prohibit data scraping and the distribution or reuse of data.

4) Create data governance and retention controls

Every organization involved in Human Data analytics needs to adopt an active policy that defines data retention limits and periods. Call it the right to be forgotten, by design.

5) Market-level analysis — aggregate and anonymize for big insights

Human Data analytics does not have to contain personally identifiable information (PII) in order to create valuable insights. To prevent the re-identification of individuals, data must be aggregated and anonymized.

6) User analytics through opt-in for small insights

Social logins have become standard, with everyone from Airbnb to American Express allowing users to quickly register and log in with their existing social identities, such as Facebook, Google, or Twitter. The key here is permission. The consumer needs to be in control about whether they share their data.

7) Protect minors

The message is simple and clear: Human Data analytics should never include those below the age to consent. The Children’s Internet Protection Act (CIPA) and other legislation prohibits unauthorized disclosure, use, and dissemination of PII regarding minors.

By keeping consumer interests top-of- mind a user-centric Human Data privacy approach ensures companies stay on the right side of the “creepy line.”